Mexico

The Democrats' ultimate objective is to dismantle our entire immigration system and open our borders to anyone who wishes to enter the country for any reason. After being humiliated by the unexpected ease with which Trump convinced Mexico to help fight illegal immigration, liberals tried to save face by pretending that the deal was toothless. Now they have been humiliated yet again by the undeniable impact the agreement has had in a remarkably short period of time. In truth, the Democrats have only themselves to blame for underestimating Trump’s border security deal with Mexico. Their radicalism clouded their judgment, just as it has throughout the Trump presidency.

The Mexican government and the educated class long ago figured out how to manipulate a succession of American governments and presidents, learning which buttons to push and how far to push them. The Mexican government urges the United States to address “the root causes” of the problem. Common sense is difficult to apply to the immigration crisis, because bad news on the border is the ill wind that blows good for some, a steady supply of cheap and easily abused labor and prospective voters for Democrats, who see them as the key to a permanent majority. But the deal with Mexico is good news for the rest of us.

President Trump reached a deal with Mexico to stem the invasion of illegal aliens streaming into the United States. This is a monumental victory for the rule of law. Also, it is a win for bringing sanity to our southern border. And once the issue of record numbers of illegals streaming across the border is resolved, maybe politicians in Washington can finally address all the other immigration disasters of their own making. Perhaps no one, however, will benefit more from this Trump diplomatic victory than the thousands and thousands of children who have been illegally dragged, smuggled and secreted across the lethal border by bloodthirsty coyotes.

President Trump’s tough talk and hardball actions on trade are probably overdue. But it’s awkward having too many trade targets at any one time. Every few weeks, it seems, Team Trump bounces from China to the European Union to China as its major trade target. The interdependence of the world economy is fragile, given that more and more products and services have cross-border ownership and ties. A tough negotiating stance on trade is welcome, but it must be accompanied by an understanding of just how much damage could be done if driving a hard bargain were to take a back seat to impulsive behavior.

Real and would-be emigrants act ironically. On both sides of the border, they often fault the U.S. and demand that U.S. immigration law be suspended — but only in their case. Emigrating Mexican citizens wave Mexican flags at the border as they try to enter America, while their counterparts inside the U.S. do the same when they protest being sent back home. Apparently, no one in Mexico or in the U.S. ever wishes to admit that Mexican citizens really like the United States — apparently far more than they do their own homeland.

I have little doubt that Trudeau will meet a satisfactory portion of the U.S. demands. The level of Canada's dependence on trade with the United States demands that. Using his good cop-bad cop approach, President Trump will ease Trudeau through the process, at China's expense to the degree possible. Then it will be on to our other principal trade partners, all of whom suffer from China's predation but none of whom have had the guts to stand up to its bullying.

If ol’ Stupid, the great campaign consultant, has learned anything since Bubba taught him the expensive lesson that elections are always about the economy, he is telling his clients now that renegotiated trade agreements and an economy running at a blistering speed will satisfy everyone beyond the newsrooms at The Washington Post and The New York Times (and the television networks that chase the chum in the wake of the newspapers). So Democrats, who thought they would be surfing the blue wave by now, must be careful. Surfing can be fun, but you can get wet.

Nothing explains Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss better than Monday’s announcement that Trump has kept his word to blue-collar voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin and other manufacturing states by officially dissolving NAFTA.

The United States has many enemies in the world, but it is hard to find one that deliberately is trying to undermine U.S. law by exporting its own citizens to change the demographic and politics of its supposed ally. It is almost impossible to find enemies that can so carefully extract billions of dollars in remittances and surpluses from the U.S. economy. Most enemies do not send as many human traffickers and drugs into the U.S. as does Mexico. And does an Iran or North Korea boast that it has the right to violate U.S. law, interfere in the domestic politics of America, and vow that it will continue to do so as it pleases?

Yesterday, President Trump announced that in the interest of national security he was imposing tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Conservative -- Populist candidates in hotly contested races in Indiana and Pennsylvania quickly embraced the President's move.

If it improves our national security against illegal immigration (not nearly all of which is Mexican) as well as jihadist networks and drug traffickers, then we should pay for it. Why would a superpower make its comparatively poor but amicable neighbor pay for our security while our government, with the nation $20 trillion in the red, diverts taxpayer funds to boondoggles like an oceanographic study that plopped mudskippers on a treadmill to see how long they can exercise?

Mexico might find ways to retaliate over specific measures targeting it — such as increased fees for visas or taxing remittances. But with the border adjustment, Mexico would have no recourse to complain, because such a measure is global in nature and would affect all U.S. trading partners equally.

Over the weekend media reports surfaced that Christopher Ashcraft, a U.S. State Department “consular officer” posted to Guadalajara, Mexico had been shot and wounded by Zafar Zia. What is more interesting, and has not been widely reported is that Zafar Zia, although of Indian heritage, is a Muslim.

There are two parts of any effective immigration-enforcement plan that are more important than either the Mexican border or criminal-alien removals: turning off the jobs magnet and ensuring that lawful foreign visitors actually go home when their authorized time is up.

The combination of Ford’s announcement that it is moving small car production to Mexico, Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” gaffe, concerns over her health and trustworthiness, Trump’s aggressive campaigning in Michigan, and the intensity of opposition to the flooding of the state with refugees may mean that Trump has an opportunity to win the state in November.

Trump’s stance in Mexico City and Phoenix reveals that there is no turning back. The die is cast. He is betting the election on his belief that the American people prefer his stands to Clinton’s call for amnesty. If Donald Trump can continue to show America what he did in Mexico City, that he can be presidential, he may just become president.

Mr. Trump swooped into Mexico City on short notice Wednesday to meet with Mexico’s president, Enrique Pena Nieto, who has compared Mr. Trump to Adolf Hitler. Mr. Pena Nieto left the private meeting saying he is “certain” that Mr. Trump’s “genuine interest is to build a relationship that might lead us to provide both our societies better conditions.”

First, Donald Trump and Mike Pence went to Louisiana. In the midst of terrible devastation, while President Obama was on vacation and Hillary Clinton was fundraising, Team Trump went to Louisiana. They drew positive media exposure and looked Presidential. Second, Trump went to Mexico and Hillary did not.